Monthly Archives: November 2013

So, as you already know from previous posts, Kev hates mice, and we are living in the country and winter is upon us, so we’ve had visitors from the fields. Barnaby Pickles has earned his stripes as mouse hunter extraordinaire whilst in the fields. But apparently the best deterrent is a pussy cat – even the scent of a cat is enough to keep the critters away, or so we have been told by all the neighbours.

We aren’t really pussy people [no snide remarks boys, thank you] but we want a menagerie of furry friends now that we have the space, so our search for the perfect pussy began a few weeks ago. Our estate agent and now very good friend, Laurette, and her daughter Alex, volunteered to find one or maybe two for us. Our first foray wasn’t that successful the candidates were two stray cats that had been taken in by a cat loving rescuer who lived just behind Laurette in Corde Sur Ciel. The kittens had been found wandering around the streets barely two months old. Bless them; they were lucky to be taken in by very kind surrogate parents who are experts in domesticating kittens born to feral cats.

I have to say Kev hasn’t been keen on the idea but has resigned himself that this is the best way to keep the souris [mice] away and our visit to the two feral kittens didn’t really do it for him. Mind you even i was a bit surprised how wild they were. We were assured that they would calm down and they even introduced us to a kitten that was a few months down the line of domestication, and as convincing as she was we both felt they were too much for newbie cat lovers.

A few weeks later, we received a call from Alex. She had heard of a stray cat that had been found, part Siamese and part pick n mix, she had been checked out by the vet and given the all clear. Also after the vet visit it came to light that she wasn’t a stray after all, she was the kitten of a house cat but had escaped and was found roaming the streets of Corde. So on Thursday we went along to see her, Rachel accompanied as she did when we got Barnaby and as soon as we saw her we fell in love and as per our visit to see Barnaby, we brought her home.

So now the fun begins. We have to acclimatise her to the house and more importantly we have to acclimatise both of them to each other. So far so good, ill let you know how its going later this week,wish us luck.

One of the great pleasures of living in this area of France is having so many beautiful villages around us and its great to take time out of our renovations to explore some of them, even when the weather is not nice, in fact it’s quite magical to see some of the villages and towns in the winter with the rain and mists.

This week we have been out and about as our friend Rachel is visiting which gives us a great excuse to down tools and explore.

So we headed for the Aveyron to visit Najac which is a medieval town which is very high up as most medieval villages are. Its surrounded by lush forests and has amazing views across the valley.

Here are some snapshots that both Rachel and i took which we have merged together.

Barnaby Pickles has been having a very busy week, not only has he been helping in the garden but he has become Fayssacs number one
Mouse hunter,all the village cats have taken a vacation now he’s on the job.
As you know we have been cutting down loads of trees in our back garden, they have been chopped up and laid out to dry ready for burning. Our BP has had a wail of a time sniffing the ever growing leafy mound hunting for mice. All we have seen in is a white wagging tail sticking out from the leafy mounds.

Albi is our nearest city and a Unesco world heritage site, it also has the worlds biggest brick built cathedral in the world.

We visited and fell in love with this city last year whilst on holiday in the area, now since living here we have visited many times and as usual i have had my camera at the ready as there are so many photo opportunities to be had.

So here are a collection of snaps i have taken over the last three visits.

Im a sucker for doors and door furniture and could happily snap away for hours especially when there are so many amazing examples in this city

Another of my favourite things is ‘ghost signs’ faded examples of fabulous signage, in my opinion even better looking now with age.